Which Candidates Put A Ring On It?

It's time to play "Who is Wearing a Wedding Ring?"

Litho Printers / CC BY 2.0 / Via Wikimedia Commons / commons.wikimedia.org

So if you're like me, you find yourself completely overwhelmed with the number of candidates still in the race.

And, if your brain works like mine, you end up focusing on probably insignificant minutiae about them (why did three of the candidates last night miss the blue memo?). This is how during the debate last night I played a little game of "Who is Wearing a Wedding Ring?"

This is a game I often play with commercials because, as far as I've noticed, most parents in commercials are wearing rings because God forbid you suggest that not married people have kids when you're selling stuff.

Now I recognize that many married people don't wear rings, and that not wearing a wedding ring is no reflection on your level of love or commitment to your spouse. But, I think it is still the norm to wear wedding rings in the US and that political candidates are often expected to uphold norms, relevant or not (see: the flak Yang got for not wearing a tie).

So if you were also playing this game, you noticed that three candidates did not wear wedding rings: Cory Booker, Joe Biden, and Andrew Yang.

Now Booker's reason for not wearing one is obvious: he isn't married. So he's not really an interesting contestant for my little game. But Biden and Yang are.

Joe Biden, sans ring

Gage Skidmore / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Via Wikimedia Commons / commons.wikimedia.org

Former Vice President of the United States Joe Biden speaking with attendees at the 2019 Iowa Federation of Labor Convention hosted by the AFL-CIO at the Prairie Meadows Hotel in Altoona, Iowa.

Andrew Yang sans ring

Gage Skidmore / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Via Wikimedia Commons / commons.wikimedia.org

Andrew Yang speaking at an event in Des Moines, Iowa.

Biden has been married to his second wife for over 40 years and Yang has been married about nine years. Now I don't find it objectionable to not wear a ring, but there are so many irrelevant things about candidates and politicians that get commented on, especially when it comes to appearances (lest we forget the great tragedy of Obama's tan suit).

So why is it that there is no talk about this? No speculation on their reasons for not wearing a ring? No jabs at their relationships?

Trump is far from above hitting on candidates apparel choices or appearances and some how talk of Obama's tan suit still comes into play, so those don't seem to be factors. So I can only speculate at this point.

For Biden, I think there are several factors. The first is that he is an older straight white cis-man which, in general in our society, tends to fend off a fair amount of criticism about appearances. He has also been married for decades, and suffered the tragic loss of his first wife, so I think there is also some cause to want to tread lightly about any suggestion that he does not take marriage seriously. For Yang, I honestly suspect that, in addition to being a straight cis-man, it is because he is far from being a front runner (sorry bud).

Now I didn't make this post to suggest that Biden and Yang should be harassed for their personal choice to not wear a ring, but rather because I want people to reflect on what would happen if other current candidates or other past candidates chose not to wear a wedding ring. Would the female candidates be called promiscuous? Would the legitimacy of Buttigieg's marriage be called into question? Would Barack's commitment to Michelle have been debated?

Sadly, I think these are all possible questions candidates could have faced. And that is what you should take away from my seemingly innocuous little game.